Is this an acceptable location for a pondless waterfall feature?

[ExpertPruning.com]

This is the last free portion of my yard, everything else has been converted to exotic fruit trees.

As I dug the holes for my trees I gathered a nice collection of rocks, as you can see in the photos. I thought why not build some sort of water feature with these behemoths?!

I have some pictures of the location below. Please let me know if it would be possible to create some sort of natural-looking, pondless waterfall in that corner.

Here is the location.

With another angle

And here is a rough sketch of what I imagine it might look. I plan on building a mound of rocks (that brown blob) in the corner to create some elevation.

Then I would have the waterfall split in two. One side going down the steeper slope towards the camera before draining, and the other going off to the right.

I don't know if I should add a second pump as it would surely complicate things. Is it possible to have the water flow to the right, then disappear back towards the left, where drain #1 is located?

Thanks everyone!!

 

[mgmine]

I don't see any reason that it wouldn't work but be careful not to make it look like just a pile of rocks. For a pondless falls to work the rocks can't be so large that the water simple disappears into them, As far as the water going in different directions that will be complicated. The flow of water can't exceed the space for it to flow into.

 

[sissy]

great place for it as it will make it a real focal point .most pondless have a pump vault made out of some kind of water holder .What are you planning for that ,What will pump 2 do as that would have to be another water vault .

 

[Lisak1]

You don't need two pumps. And you don't need that much height to create something pretty - in fact, anything that tall is going to look out of place. How about something like this:

 

[sissy]

true you already have a natural hill work with that and you can tweek as you see what works and what doesn't .Geeze I can't say how many times I have changed things in my pond and sure others here have done the same .I see if it will work if not then I change it

 

[Lisak1]

I can't say how many times I have changed things in my pond and sure others here have done the same

I'm more of a one-and-done kind of worker. I don't like re-doing anything. I don't even mow the lawn the same direction two times in a row! haha! But I really do like to plan, plan, plan, think, think, think, and then plan some more before I start a project. I like to make sure I'm going to be happy with the end results the first time around. I love projects - I just like to constantly be moving on to the next thing. I have a LOOOOOOONG list of to-dos!

 

[sissy]

I have a long list but then I always see something I want to change that could make it better .I have to plan because all the projects I do are by myself so everything has to be thought out so I don't get hurt .

 

[Lisak1]

because all the projects I do are by myself so everything has to be thought out so I don't get hurt .

You are a dynamo @sissy - I tend to be the planner, my husband is the financier, and my kids are the worker bees. Although they are all to the point that they make more money than I do, so they frequently say they would rather pay someone to do it for me rather than do it themselves. haha! But we enjoy working together on the projects that are manageable for a DIYer with low skill level.

 

[sissy]

I have had to do this all my life as hubby traveled a lot so learned to do and plan things by myself .I was wondering if his pic is deceiving as how high the waterfall will be and how wide .He really has no sizes listed for anything and that would help greatly .Fence height and that concrete wall height would help also

 

[Lisak1]

Measurements would definitely help. I just think so often people think "waterfall" and imagine they have to have a big height for the water to come from. I have seen so many pretty little water features that are just slight elevations. Several big rocks are so much better than a bunch of small ones, too. Scale is important.

Here's another example of a pretty pondless that has a small elevation:

 

[addy1]

I don't even mow the lawn the same direction two times in a row! haha!

There is a person near us that mows their lawn in a perfect cross hatch, huge lawn. IE the lawn is mowed twice to make the pattern...............no thanks.......

I just mow

 

[sissy]

youtube is a good source for some ideas.I just mow also as long as it is mowed I am happy

 

[Rajesh]

You don't need two pumps. And you don't need that much height to create something pretty - in fact, anything that tall is going to look out of place. How about something like this:

View attachment 106270

Can I get a bigger picture of this, please?

 

[Rajesh]

Measurements would definitely help. I just think so often people think "waterfall" and imagine they have to have a big height for the water to come from. I have seen so many pretty little water features that are just slight elevations. Several big rocks are so much better than a bunch of small ones, too. Scale is important.

Here's another example of a pretty pondless that has a small elevation:

View attachment 106300

Less water, more evaporation, may end up with dry running pump!

 

[Lisak1]

Can I get a bigger picture of this, please?

I stole it off the internet @Rajesh . And if you're concerned about your water evaporating and your pump running dry, build a bigger reservoir. What's underground is no reflection of what's up top. Your underground storage can be ten times what you need if you want. We've seen rainwater storage units that are 6000 gallons and they just have a few small bubbling boulders on top to keep the water moving. Minimum size is big enough to hold ALL the water when the pump is turned off and the water all drains into the reservoir. Maximum size is up to you.

Here's our pondless waterfall which holds 100 gallons of water - we top it off maybe once every two weeks or so and only during the hottest weeks. Spring and fall we never need to refill. (Now that ice is a different story - I had to pull the plug once that started as the damming would both force water out and all that ice represents water that is no longer circulating. Plus it would be hard to fill through that icy topper!